TOMRA event draws recyclers to Greece

Equipment maker TOMRA Sorting Recycling, based in Norway, and Greece-based waste management and recycling firm Helector S.A. held a two-day event called the TOMRA Leads Global Conference 16-17 June 2016 on the Greek island of Crete.

TOMRA says the event has been established “to share knowledge and expertise about the management of municipal solid waste (MSW).”

The first day of the event featured a guided tour through the DEDISA-Helector waste management plant, which was renovated in 2015. TOMRA says the plant upgrade has brought benefits to the municipal district of Chania, Greece, and its community of 110,000 people.

During the conference guests discovered how new legislative developments and technological advances are set to impact the MSW market, and also learned more about the factors that govern and determine the feasibility of MSW recycling plants in their own regions, according to TOMRA.

Speaker Jürgen Priesters, business development director at TOMRA Sorting, remarked, “The rapid growth in world population continues to generate vast increases in MSW. Most of this waste is destined for incineration plants or landfill sites and as a direct result of this practice, valuable raw materials are needlessly destroyed. Closed-loop recycling, separate collection structures, deposit systems and manufacturer initiatives are all excellent examples of how to reverse this wasteful trend while working towards a resource-friendly policy. It’s only through enlightened collaboration that we can jointly make a positive impact and change the methods used to process MSW. Through TOMRA Leads we’ve developed a platform that brings together experts and demonstrates many different aspects of creating value from waste.”

Other speakers included Clarissa Morawski, managing director at Brussels-based Reloop, and Ulrich Schlotter, project director at Germany-based plastics recycling firm BKV.

TOMRA Sorting Recycling designs and manufactures sensor-based sorting technologies for the global recycling and waste management industry and has installed more than 4,400 systems in some 50 countries worldwide.